Did Slur Shake Up Law School Board?

A racial slur admittedly used by the man for whom Roger Williams University’s law school was named has reportedly resulted in the departure of four members of the university’s board of trustees.

Ralph Papitto, 80, a major donor who has chaired the board for 40 years, says he has never used the n-word before but it “slipped out” at the May 2 meeting during a discussion of the need for diversity at the university, according to the Providence Journal.

He later resigned, but then three other board members who pressed for his departure apparently were themselves forced off the board of the Providence, R.I., school, according to the Journal and the Associated Press.

“I apologized for that,” Papitto said today in an interview with a local radio station, after admitting to using the slur. “What else can I do? Kill myself?”